Contents

"Back of Book" Description

Far in the future, 60,000 light-years from Earth, a loose confederacy of Terran exiles are locked in battle with the enigmatic Protoss and the ruthless Zerg Swarm. Each species struggles to ensure its own survival among the stars in a war that will herald the beginning of mankind's greatest chapter -- or foretell its violent, bloody end.
She is the Zerg Queen of Blades. Her name has become legend throughout the galaxy, and that legend is death for all who stand against her. Yet once, long ago, Sarah Kerrigan was human -- the unwilling subject of an insidious clandestine experiment. She was forced to serve as a merciless assassin for the Terran Confederacy until a twist of fate propelled her toward a destiny none could have foreseen. This is the untold tale of Kerrigan's shadowy origin...and the war that was fought for her very soul.
An original tale of universal conflict set in the world of the award-winning, bestselling computer game from Blizzard Entertainment.

The First Item

At the same time the new Sons of Korhal were training the new recruits. In addition to general training Keel learned to operate a siege tank. Somo Hung drew Rimes’ ire during training. With the assistance of Umojan-gathered intelligence Mengsk planned the first retaliatory strike on the Confederacy. The target was the secret Fujita Facility. A rebel strike force, including Keel, Hung, and Rimes, infiltrated the facility and recovered Kerrigan and some some dead xenomorphs, and captured Flanx.

The Second Item

Kerrigan's neural adjuster was removed on Mengsk's orders and her memories returned slowly. Mengsk and Hung made her feel welcome and Mengsk had the former ghost help interrogate Flanx. Mengsk admitted he had not rescued her for altruistic reasons, but because she had knowledge of the Ghost Academy on Tarsonis which he planned to attack. Mengsk told her the post commander was Major Rumm. This sparked additional memories of her abuse at Rumm's hands during ghost training.

Upon entering Confederate space the Hyperion was betrayed by a mole. The battlecruiserNorad II, commanded by Colonel Edmund Duke, responded to the alert and prevented the rebel ship from making an immediate escape into warp space. The rebels feigned surrender and admitted a Confederate boarding party while plotting to maneuver their ship to make an escape jump. The rebels improvised an attack on the enemy battlecruiser by using a siege tank firing out of a docking bay. The boarding party was joined by Flanx but were also ambushed.

However, a cloaked Confederate ghost also came aboard and the rebels were helpless against it. Kerrigan volunteered to eliminate the ghost. She was successful and recovered the ghost's hostile environment suit. She noted Mengsk's strange thoughts about the ghost but he quickly hid them from her.

The Third Item

Mengsk sent a team of rebels to the world of Pridewater, a Confederate colony with rebellious tendencies, in preparation for an attack on the Ghost Academy, a Confederate elite soldier training center. During the trip, Hung and Kerrigan got close.

Mengsk asked Kerrigan to find a certain ghost for him. To do so, Kerrigan would need a locater carried by the Academy’s Post Commander… Major Rumm, Kerrigan's former trainer and tormenter. Mengsk had reason to believe Rumm was studying the xenomorphs.

The other rebels sneaked into the Academy, stealing weapons, but they were betrayed by the previous mole. Hung, having determined who was betraying them, tracked him down and engaged him in mortal combat. He was severely injured, but the mole was dead. Unfortunately, Major Rumm was able to capture Kerrigan in a high-gravity chamber due to the warning he had been given, and the rest of the rebels were ambushed by cloaked ghosts.

The last remaining rebel, Forest Keel, blew up the Academy’s reactor (with a little help from Hung), killing and injuring the Ghosts (along with himself). This freed Kerrigan from the high gravity; she escaped and killed Major Rumm with her unlocked psionic powers. However, she escaped too late to prevent Rumm from killing Hung. Before leaving, Kerrigan retrieved the wanted Ghost (who had fallen unconscious in the battle with the rebels) and found and killed the xenomorphs being studied there.

Kerrigan brought the ghost to Mengsk, who declared to the ghost that he had killed his family, then shot him in cold blood. Kerrigan was horrified at once again being used, but Mengsk told her that she had given him hope, so he forgave her for being the third ghost to have murdered his family.

The destruction of the Ghost Academy was too big to ignore; the Confederates allowed edited versions of Mengsk’s statements to be aired. Universe News Network reporter Michael Liberty covered the story.